Sleeping Giant Awakens: Michigan State beats Wisconsin, 5-2, clinches Big Ten regular season hockey title

It took Adam Nightingale only two years to make a major dent in Michigan State hockey history. He and his Spartans punctuated a storybook chapter of the 2024 season by clinching Michigan State’s first conference championship in 23 years with a 5-2 victory over Wisconsin, Friday night before a crowd of 13,208 at Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.

Nightingale and his staff flipped the roster, juiced up the talent pool and recharged the persona of Michigan State hockey, yielding 11 first-year players in the 20-man playing group which clinched the Big Ten regular season title.

It’s Michigan State’s first conference championship in hockey since 2001 in Ron Mason’s final year as head coach. The Spartans won the Central Collegiate Hockey Conference regular season title that year, led by Ryan Miller’s Hobey Baker Award-winning efforts.

It’s also Michigan State’s first Big Ten hockey championship. The conference began sanctioning the sport in 2014.

Michigan State made it happen this year with the fifth-youngest team in the country. The Spartans play seven freshmen with regularity, including goaltender Trey Augustine, who made 44 saves against the Badgers. Augustine, a South Lyon, Mich. native and the youngest starting goalie in the country, made excellence seem routine on this night, as he has done much of the season.

“It’s been 23 years since we’ve won a regular season hockey championship and I think that’s a testament to the guys,” said Nightingale, who in trademark form refrained from exuberance. “In our conference, there’s no nights off and you’re talking about this is game 23. The playoffs is obviously a different animal. But the body of work to get this done, the guys should be proud of it. Super excited.

“That’s something they’ll have with them for the rest of their life.”

No. 6-ranked Michigan State improved to 22-8-3 overall and 16-5-2 in Big Ten play. No. 4 Wisconsin fell to 24-9-2, and 15-7-1 in the Big Ten.

WHAT IT MEANS

Michigan State is one of the most storied programs in college hockey history, with three National Championships, 11 Frozen Fours, and 27 NCAA Tournament appearances. But the Spartans have not qualified for the NCAA Tournament since 2008. The dormancy came to an end this season, with the sleeping giant Spartans reawakening for this regular season title, and an eye on more trophies as March progresses.

“This is a group that understands that we still have work to do, we have to keep getting better and there’s hockey left and we want to keep winning games,” Nightingale said.

HOW IT WENT DOWN

Senior Reed Lebster, a transfer from UMass, scored the go-ahead goal with 7:10 remaining, giving the Spartans a 3-2 lead with a spirited 90-foot rush and finish.

Jeremy Davidson, of Kalamazoo, Mich., and Tiernan Shoudy, of Marysville, Mich., added empty-net goals in the final 1:44 to secure the win, and a new banner for Munn Ice Arena.

Davidson and freshman defenseman Artyom Levshunov, of Belarus, each scored in the first period as the Spartans led 2-1 after 20 minutes, despite being out-shot by a wide margin.

Wisconsin’s dominance in face offs helped the Badgers control territory, possession time and build a 34-14 lead in shots on goal after two periods, but the score was tied 2-2 as the Spartans scraped and clawed to remain in the game, thanks in part to 13 blocked shots and positional steadiness from Augustine.

“Obviously, Trey played great,” Nightingale said.

With 10:52 left, Augustine stopped Wisconsin’s Simon Tassy on short-handed breakaway, preserving a 2-2 tie. That was a huge moment in what eventually led to a championship-clinching night. Without that save, it’s possible Michigan State might have lost the game, and eventually the championship.

“Big-time, big-time,” Nightingale said. “Fortunate we have him. He’s special. We’re far from perfect and that’s why you have a goalie. He has a job to do and he does it well.”

TURNING POINT

The opening shift of the third period, by the senior line of Nicolas Müller, Davidson and Lebster, signaled a change in momentum. Led by those three, the Spartans maintained possession, won tight battles, finally established a forecheck and produced traffic in front of the goal for a change. That shift didn’t yield any Grade A scoring chances, but Michigan State had a different level of pep to its stride during that shift and created momentum which it retained for the rest of the game. 

Wisconsin killed two power plays in the third period, but Michigan State earned a 12-12 tie in shots on goal in the final 20 minutes, which represented a huge change from the first 40 minutes.

Wisconsin ultimately outshot Michigan State 44-24, but the Spartans made the timely plays.

“It was a big-time third period for us,” Nightingale said. “We played a really good team and they were thinking the same thing, right? And they took it to us for the first half of the game. It was bend, don’t break. And then you have to play your best when it matters most, and that was in the third period. And I thought that was one of our best periods of the year.”

THE GO-AHEAD GOAL

Lebster (6-0, 188, Gr., Grand Rapids, Mich.) received a breakout pass from Levshunov, raced up the left side, creating a two-on-two rush over the red line and both blue lines and into the Badger zone. 

Lebster had Davidson heading for the slot, drawing a defender. Meanwhile, Lebster out-raced Wisconsin’s David Silye, used skillful edge work to turn the corner and get to his forehead, and then beat Badger goalie Kyle McClellan for a game-changing, and program-tilting moment.

As for the fourth goal, Lebster won a 50-50 puck in the Michigan State zone, shoveled it ahead to Davidson, who took it the rest of the way and finished the empty-netter with 1:44 to play. 

“All year, we responded,” Nightingale said. “But we don’t want to wait until tomorrow to respond and that’s what the third period was about.”

WHAT’S NEXT

Michigan State is four points ahead of Wisconsin in the Big Ten standings. With three points awarded to the winning team of each game and only one game remaining in the regular season, the Badgers are unable to catch the Spartans.

The two teams will play again on Saturday at 9 p.m. ET (BTN+).

In clinching the Big Ten regular season championship, Michigan State has earned a bye for the first round  of the Big Ten Tournament. Michigan State will have next weekend off and then will host a Big Ten Tournament Semifinal Game at Munn Ice Arena on March 16. Game time and ticket information is pending. The opponent won’t be known until after next weekend’s first round.

If the Spartans win on March 16, Michigan State will play host to the Big Ten Tournament Championship Game on March 23. 

Michigan State’s chances of earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which begins on March 28-29, increased with this win. Michigan State came into the game ranked No. 5 in the Pairwise Rankings, which are used to detemine seeds for the tournament. Michigan State might need two more wins to clinch a No. 1 seed in the 16-team NCAA Tournament. 

“We’re in the second half of the year now and you can talk about youth, but the expectation is you grow up and learn from different experiences and we’ve got some guys that have played in big-time games for sure,” Nightingale said. “You need that poise. This is one to keep in your back pocket. We’re getting down to the short shorts here where it’s one game and done and if you’re in a situation where another team is taking it to you, just take a deep breath and you know you can play better.

“I think that’s the joy about this group is that there is a humility to them. You can say, ‘Hey, we’re not playing good enough.’ Not to discredit Wisconsin. But they responded. The understand that. It’s check your ego and let’s do better.”

Members of the Michigan State hockey team, along with athletic director Alan Haller, pose with the Big Ten Championship trophy in the locker room at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis., following Friday’s victory over Wisconsin. (Photo courtesy @MSU_Hockey).

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Wisconsin took a 1-0 lead just :47 seconds into the game when defenseman Daniel Laatsch flipped a puck toward Augustine from the point, through traffic. It trickled past Augustine and lifted the Badgers to a rousing start.

Michigan State responded, as it has all year. Levshunov tied the game at 1-1 with 14:32 left in the first period when his seemingly harmless dump toward the Badger goal from the right half boards went through McClellan’s glove.

McClellan leads the nation in save percentage and Wisconsin is No. 2 in the country in goals allowed per game at 1.88, but Levshunov produced some puck luck with that goal, tying it at 1-1.

Michigan State capitalized on another break to take a 2-1 lead with 1:49 remaining in the first period. Wisconsin defenseman Ben Dexheimer collided with teammate Simon Tassy as the Badgers tried to advance the puck through the neutral zone. The collision resulted in a loose puck, picked up by Lebster.

Lebster led a two-on-one with Davidson. Lebster fed Davidson, who fired a one-timer from the slot to give Michigan State the lead late in the first period.

“The play that Lebby made for Davie, that was a big one,” Nightingale said.

Wisconsin tied the game at 2-2 when Mathieu De St. Phalle scored during a five-minute power play after Michigan State freshman defenseman Maxim Štrbàk was called for a five minute boarding major.

Wisconsin was dominating the game at that point, and finally drew even on the scoreboard. There might have been a feeling that the Badgers were in prime position to pull ahead and remain undefeated in home conference games. But Michigan State killed the rest of that penalty, and changed the tenor of the game early in the third period.